N0 B0DY, N0 CRIM3 | Bang Chan

Whiplash

Kiera stared at her hands in shock replaying the last few minutes in her head. Her hands shook in her lap. Silent tears trickled down her cheeks. Her father paced back and forth in front of her. This time, there was no stopping the monster that her father turned into. He was out for blood and she was just his latest victim. 

When her father pulled the trigger, Felix ducked at the last moment. The bullet lodged into the wall behind him. Willie never shot the gun again. Instead, he gripped Kiera's shirt and jerked her out of the room. 

The pair made their way back upstairs. Kiera had gone into a state of shock. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking. Her teeth chattered together like she was cold, but she wasn't. The crippling realization of what her father did made her blood turn cold. The worst part? He still had his gun. 

He switched the safety on, but the safety switch could fail at any moment. He rambled and swung the gun around. Gesturing with his hands, the barrel found itself pointed at Kiera on more than one occasion. She could see his lips moving, but she had no idea what he was saying. 

At one point, he dropped three small white pills into her hand. When she looked up, he was glaring at her. She downed them without asking for water. When her father was sure she swallowed them, he continued. 

"And since when do you curse at your father? Are you kidding me? You should be grateful! I provide you with everything. I gave you the roof over your head! I provide the food on your goddamn dinner table. I don't know anything about Stray Kids, but you know what I do know? They've turned you into a little delinquent brat!" 

Willie's nostrils flared and his chest heaved. A line of sweat appeared beneath his hairline. Becoming this angry had gotten him all worked up. He worked so hard to get here and this was the thanks he was getting? 

"Do you know how much time we've spent searching for you? Do you know how much time and effort went into the search parties? You're selfish! Do you know how many people were worried about you?" Willie scoffed and shook his head. 

"Can you stop fucking yelling at me?" Kiera's voice came out scratchy and high-pitched. She was terrified of her father. Terrified, but fed up. "Stop acting like I'm a child!" 

"That's all you are and that's all you ever will be. Your freedom? Kiss it good-bye! You lost that privilege the moment you snuck out of this house and ran off to go see a man! You had never seen that man before a day in your life! We are not whores in this household!" 

"Oh, really? That's rich coming from you. Did you forget your wife cheated on you? She probably did it because she got fed up with you!" 

"Don't talk about your mother that way!" 

"Why?" Kiera's eyes narrowed. "You don't wanna talk about it? Could it be because you were the one that killed her? It's lonely being single, isn't it? How does it feel to sleep in your bed every single night knowing that your wife used to sleep there and you were the one behind her murder?" 

Willie's jaw dropped. He couldn't comprehend the vile amount of disrespect flying out of Kiera's mouth. His hand tightened around the gun in his hand. It was taking everything inside of him not to switch off the safety and send her to the grave too. 

 "You have turned into a pathetic young woman. You had potential to be someone great, but right now you're throwing it all away. You do not want to make me your enemy, Kiera. You have no idea what I'm capable of." 

An indescribable rage coursed through her bones. Such fury shook her that she thought her bones might snap from the weight of all the madness. Her hands were no longer shaking from fear, now they were shaking from anger. 

"You're too blind to see that you destroy everything you touch. Your daughter, your wife, your friends, your presidency, this country. You've been getting away with it for years and now I think you're terrified. You're afraid because your daughter is fighting back." A laugh left her lips, "you can't scare me anymore." 

The past memories from Stray Kids began to flash through her brain. All the times she made the members smile and laugh. The times she made them food to show her appreciation. When she helped the members with different projects. When she got drunk with half of them and laid on the floor staring at the ceiling. 

Kiera Campbell had never been a bad person. She was only a victim of her father. All that self-doubt and insecurity, all the sadness and crippling anxiety, and the fear of authority; the root cause came from one person and one person only, her father. 

"I can't fucking do this right now," Willie shook his head. "I've heard enough from you, go to your room. Go to your room and don't plan on coming out until I tell you!" He jerked a finger towards the hallway. "Go!" 

"My fucking pleasure," Kiera shoved herself up fuming. She didn't care that her back was turned to her father. She didn't care that the gun was to her back. 

The view of her father was shifting clearly. She wouldn't tolerate being bullied into silence and submission anymore. She'd do whatever it took to keep the guys and herself alive and then she was out. She wasn't sticking around and going back to the role of her father's sweet and doting daughter; that version of herself was dead. 

Something more wicked filled her veins. Biological family or not, she no longer gave a shit. The blood was curdled and family ties were cut. There was no reason she should stick around and pretend to be something she was not. 

Willie stood silently and watched his daughter leave. His heart thumped like a bass drum in his chest. His fingers clutched to the gun tightly until Kiera slammed her bedroom door shut. He threw the gun on the wooden coffee table. 

His own daughter was going to be the death of him.